Sunday, March 13, 2005

Garlic Bread

I got this recipe from Chef Michael Smith of Chef at Home, a show on the Canadian food channel I really love. The guy is 6'7" and his stove and worktop are knee-high on him, so I wonder if he has major back issues... Whatever. He's very enthusiastic and he has inspired me to do my own experimentation in the kitchen.

Here's what you'll need and what to do.

1. Take 4 heads of garlic (not individual cloves - the full shabang) and trim the tops off with a sharp knife so the tops of the cloves are exposed. Place in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, and roast in a 400F oven until soft in the centre and most of the cloves look like they're about to pop out of the peels.2. Take them out of the oven and cool them off. Then squeeze out the garlic into a bowl. This looks super cool. The cloves should be so soft and tender that they should easily just ooze out of the peels.3. Once completely cold, mash well and add an equal amount of butter, softened. Stir well. Season with salt and pepper. To this, you can now add some herbs to taste: I added parsley, but you could add pretty much anything you like - chives would be nice, cilantro would be cool, too. Or just leave it as is.4. Take a French baguette and slice it open lengthways like a book, leaving a "spine" in tact. Spoon in your garlic mixture evenly. Wrap in foil and bake in a hot oven until desired crispness and it's hot in the middle.5. Slice and enjoy.

I love roasted garlic. It's easy to make and we do all kinds of things with it at school. In the pastry kitchen, we add it to bread. It has a really mellow flavour and can be added to cream soups (or any soup, for that matter), salad dressings, sauces, flavoured butters, or pretty much anything you like to add garlic to. The flavour changes completely once it's been roasted, so don't worry about garlic breath or anything.